Process for producing an explosive compound.



. 1,242,900, in Drawing.

' W35. 'rwmme AND RALPH w. s. wxcxorr, or GENEVA, NEW "2031:;

rnoonss non rnonnome AN nxrnosrvn comrounn.

' To all when it may concern:

the county Be itknownhat we, RALrH H. Twmmo and RALPH G.. Wxoxorr, citizensof the United States and residents of- Geneva, in-

f Ontario and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvemeints in Processes for Producing Explosive Com ounds, of which the followis a spec' cation.

' he object of'our invention is the pro vision ofia cheap and simple process for the .production of explosive compounds of great .power, extreme stability and permanent character from a wide ran e of materials- ,some of'which are exceeding y cheap. Gen-- at the'temperature of fusion of the member of the first class with which in any given" case the member of the second is employed or-at the temperature of the fusion together f' the selected members of the two cla' i W P r to use sodium nitrite and sodium 'nitrate, rsincethey are cheap and since the ,corres'pondingsalts of other metals are not onlymore expensive but. do not fuse so icreadil'yq We. also prefertouse aromatic. derivatives, but it is to" be clearly under- -"stood that in'rth'e selection of materials of the, two ..classes named we are not limited except asspecified. We make this statement after having conducted a wide ran e of experiments which weabelieve justi fit..;- As will appear from example hereinafter given fweffind among the various materials of the second class which are suitable, 'aromatic"carboxyl derivatives and aromatic sulfonates,'bothofthese as. well'as the :other substances of the "second class em- .ployed'inathe examples referred to being -.aro'm ati c substances containing a'neg'ative. ,g'i'o'up.'- Itf is a distinct'advantage of our [process that b stances of ,t is character commercially it we are able to treat sub-.

whereas this has been very difiicult by proc- Specification of Letters Patent. I

Patented 6a. 9, '191 '7.

- Application filed April 10, 1916. Serlal li'o. 90,187.

esses formerly known. In performing our process we preferably select one mater alof each of the'two classes and form. .them into an explosive compound by fusion lnch, since prior to combining they do not change their character when fused, may readily be done and .may be done with safety,--j 'since T STA AT T O E there is a wide range between the tempera ture at which the nitrites or nitrates fuse and that at which the resultant compounds detonate. The pointsjof fusion of the nitrites and nitrates can be readily ascer tained from well-known treatises on chemistry. This margin although not identical in all cases is, we believe, always sufficient to .constitute'amargin of safety should the fusion temperatures of the nitrogen salt be accidentally exceeded somewhat.

viously if in a given instance a lower temperature than that of the fusion of the nitrogen salt is suflicient to fuse the selected ma-. terials, the mar 'n'of safety is yet wider. The simplest an easiestmode of operation is obviously to mix the materials before subjecting them to heat and fusing them to- Y gether, but we do not of 'coursew1shto limit ourselves to this mode of procedure, since, -although it would be more difficult and expensive, the two materials might in some cases be heated separately to fusion temperature and then mixed, or the salt of nitrogen might be fused and the 31011181510 substance added to it. Accordingly it is to be understood that the words fusing t with in some of the claims do not necessarily 1mply mixing before heating. The temperature should be maintained at or slightly. above the sion point until a homogenous liquid results. We also wish to make it clear that while partly for the sake of convenience, We prefer to use one only of each of the two classes. of substances in a given case, we are not restricted to so doing but ma use more than one-of either or both; In eed, itmay in-some cases be desirable. to

add in making the: fused 1 compound some other substance not of either, of" the two classes above mentioned, as for instance asubstance which would lower the fusing point, or one which would make the product.

easier to handle, or an inert substance which in order to provide an oxidizing agent for combustible elements of the compound at the time of explosion. For theoretically complete combination enough of the nitrite or nitrate should be used to eflfect complete substitution of the hydrogens in the ring by nitroso and nitro groups, but the reactions 'are not always exact and it isnot at all necessary that the proportions of the respective materials should be in accordance with this rule. It is of course desirable, however, not to clog the compound resulting from the process with an undue amount of inert material. In theexamples of successful applications of the process hereinafter given proportions actually used and found satisfactory are indicated, although these proportions, like the examples themselves, are illustrative rather than limiting.

While we may use either the nitrites or the nitrates, it is true in general that the nitrites fuse at lower temperatures than the correspondlng nitrates, and n some cases the nitrites may'be. used with an aromatic substance which could not be fused with the corresponding nitrate because it would volatilize or disintegrate before the fusion point of the nitrate was reached. This difference in fusin temperature is exemplified in sodium nltrite which fuses at approximately 271 C. and sodium nitrate which fuses at approximately 315 C., these particular salts of nitrogen, that is nitrite and nitrate of sodium being the ones which we prefer to use, since they are much less expensive than the corresponding potash salts. While because of this property of the nitrites, we may sometimes prefer to use them, greater power is secured by using the nitrates, which are therefore preferable for heavy work.

Any well-known heating apparatus suitable for the purpose may be employed, such as an electric heater, a gas oven or the like. The fused product may be cast or may be ground after it has cooled.

The substances which are produced by the fusion are notmerely mixtures but are compounds or compounds with an admixture, a reaction having taken place, resulting probably in the case of the nitrite in polynltroso compounds and in the case of the nitrates in polynitro compounds. That a reaction has taken place can readily be shown by the fact that the resultant compound is alkaline even,

though the ori al was strongly acid. The pro able reactions which take place may be indicated as follows:

s y In the third case 80% ofsodium nitrite (NaNO was mixed with 20% of phthalic faciddw I-I (COOH) and the mixture'was use In the fourth case 75% of sodium nitrate (NaNO was mixed with 25% of sodiumbenzene sulfonate (C H SO 'Na) and the mixture was fused.

In the fifth case 85% of sodium nitrite (NaNO was mixed with 15% of na hthalene di-sodium-sulfonate (G' H (S Na) and the mixture was fused.

In all of these cases the-product was an explosive compound of greatpower'incapa ble of being exploded by shock even by hammering on an anvil or by pressure, but capable of or other detonators. What we claim is:

1. The process of producing an explosive compound comprising heatin .to its fusing temperature'a salt of an alka metal with a.

eing detonated by mercury fulminate common inorganic acid of nitro en, and fusin therewith an aromatic 'su stance nonvo atile and undecomposable at the temperature of the fusion. I v

2. The process of producing an explosive compound comprising fusing an excess by weight of an 'alkali metal nitrate with an aromaticsubstance non-volatile and unde"-- composable at the temperature of the fusion.

3. The process of producing an explosive compound comprising heatinto its fusing temperature a salt of an alka i metal with a common inorganic acid ofnitrogen', and fus-' ing therewith an aromatic substance containing a negative group.

4. The process of producin'g an explosive compound comprising heatin to its fusing temperature'a salt of an alka i metal with a common inorganic acid of nitrogen and fusing it with an aromatic sulfonate.

5. The process of producing an explosive compound comprising heating sodium nitrate to fusing temperature and fusing it with sodium benzene-sulfonate.

6. The process of producing an explosive compound comprising heating sodium nitrate to its fusing temperature and fusing therewith an aromatic substance non-Volatile fusion of the mass.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signa tures.

' RALPH H. TWINING.

RALPH W. G. WYCKOFFQ Witness:

J OHN L. FLETCHER. 

